This invention relates to promotional activities, advertising, and purchasing incentives, and more particularly to systems and methods for placing advertisements and coupons on useful structures for distribution to retail customers, including handles for plastic bags.
For years, manufacturers, advertisers, and marketing consultants have invested countless hours in developing various methods for influencing the purchasing decisions made by retail customers. Each advertising initiative is focused on influencing customer decisions, either through apparent or subtle means. Advertisers have advertised products using direct mailings, newspapers, fliers, magazines, radio, television, and banners, just to name a few.
One obstacle to any advertising campaign is that advertising can be expensive. For instance, the gross cost of advertising via radio can be about $23 per thousand impressions, calculated using a combined metro and rural advertising rate. One impression is a single person looking at one advertisement one time. If the same person looks at the advertisement multiple times, for instance, once while driving to work and once while returning home from work, each time the person looks at the advertisement is an impression. The gross cost of advertising via television can be about $30 per thousand impressions, calculated using a combined rate of early morning, daytime, early news, late news, and prime time. The gross cost of advertising using a newspaper is about $52 per thousand impressions, calculated using a blended Sunday and daily rate. The gross cost of advertising using direct mail is about $182 per thousand impressions. As a result, a need exists for a method of advertising products to consumers that is cheaper than any of these conventional advertising methods but equally, if not more, effective.
While advertisers have used these conventional methods to advertise their goods, services and other items for years, each method has realized mixed results at best. One cause of the often poor results is that each of these methods passively engage consumers. For instance, advertisers using conventional advertising methods such as radio, television, magazines, newspapers, flyers, and the like simply place advertisements on medium having some likelihood of being seen or heard by the targeted consumers. While all advertisers desire that each one of their advertisements be placed in front of consumers, conventional advertising mechanisms have not resulted in such an outcome. For instance, not all advertisements placed in a newspaper are seen by consumers because most consumers do not look at every page of a newspaper. Instead, consumers often only glance at the front page of a couple of sections of the newspaper. As a result, advertisements included on inside pages of such newspapers did not result in an impression. Similar problems exist when advertising using radio stations. For example, consumers listening to radio station broadcasts have the option of not listening to advertisements by changing the radio station when advertisements are being broadcast. Thus, conventional methods of passive advertising do not result in an impression being made from each advertisement and often result in very poor percentages of impressions made per advertisement. Thus, a need exists for a method of advertising that increases the number of impressions made per advertisement.
Advertising has not been the only method by which manufacturers and others have attempted to influence the purchasing habits of consumers. Specifically, manufacturers have also attempted to increase sales by offering sales incentives, such as coupons. Coupons can include offers for mail-in rebates, redemptions, and savings at the point of sale. Coupons have historically been distributed to consumers through direct mailings, newspapers, magazines, affixed on grocery bags, printed on the back side of cash register receipts, and dispensed from dispensers located on shelving within an aisle of a store. Coupons have rarely been presented to consumers in a ready to use format. Rather, coupons are usually given to consumers in a form that requires consumers to remove them from larger items, such as newspapers or fliers. In addition, coupons distributed in this manner typically are made of thin paper that is unable to hold its shape and susceptible to being torn, wrinkled or crushed when placed in a woman""s handbag or a gentleman""s pocket. Such phenomena often causes consumers to disfavor using coupons. As a result, coupons presented to consumers in this fashion suffer from low redemption rates.
It is widely known within the retail industry that consumers purchase products based, in part, on convenience. This is equally true of coupon redemption. It is also true that most coupons are presented in a superfluous manner or at an inopportune time to consumers without inherent value or usefulness. Hence, only about one percent of all coupons issued are redeemed. If using a coupon is unduly burdensome, the consumer will be less likely to redeem the coupon. If the principal reason the consumer was going to purchase the product was because of the incentive offered on the coupon, the store and manufacturer are in danger of losing the sale. Therefore, a need exists for a device for supplying a purchasing incentive that is convenient to redeem and requires less effort than methods currently used.
This invention is a system and method for advertising and providing sales incentives for goods and services in a manner that stimulates sales while generating a profit for the entity employing this method. The invention includes placing marketing materials such as advertisements or sales incentives, or both, on a useful device such as a carrying strap containment device that is useful to a shopper at a store. Specifically, the device is capable of containing straps attached to shopping bags, such as those straps commonly found on a plastic shopping bag used at grocery stores.
The device is advantageous and welcomed by customers for numerous reasons. For instance, the device is welcomed by customers because it is provided to them free of charge. In addition, the device distributes the load from the carrying straps across a larger portion of a customer""s hand than carrying straps used without the device, making it significantly more comfortable to carry the filled shopping bag. Additionally, the carrying strap containment device is welcomed by customers because it is a useful device that does not need to be cut out or otherwise modified before the customer can redeem it. The device also keeps the handles of bags separated for easy gripping when multiple bags are collected together, such as in the trunk of a customer""s car. Further, the device prevents handles of a bag from separating, thus, keeping the goods within the bag. Finally, the carrying strap containment device is welcomed by stores and other entities because it is capable of traveling through the existing coupon redemption systems in place today within the United States.
The device preferably includes at least one surface capable of receiving an advertisement or sales incentive, or both. The advertisement or sales incentive can be located either on an inside or an outside surface of the device, or both. Advertisements can be directed to various items, including products, services, organizations, philanthropies, special events, sporting events, fund raising drives, sweepstakes, internet addresses for web sites and the like. Sales incentives can include coupons, rebates, xe2x80x9cbuy one, get one freexe2x80x9d offers, and other purchasing incentives. In one embodiment, the carrying strap containment device can include an advertisement on the outside surface of each wall and on a base of the device and can include at least one coupon and redemption rules on the inside surface of the walls. Additionally, the walls can include a bar code that can be scanned at a cash register to redeem the coupon.
This method of generating revenue by placing advertisements or sales incentives on carrying strap containment devices can begin by giving solicitations to manufacturers of goods or service providers for advertisements or sales incentives, or both. Advertisements and sales incentives are then placed on the carrying strap containment devices in a manner agreed to by the advertiser and the entity, such as by printing or by using adhesives. In return, the manufacturer or service provider pays a fee for placing the advertisement or sales incentive on a specified number of carrying strap containment devices. The carrying strap containment devices are then packaged in easy to use dispensers. They can be shipped directly to the stores, or they first can be shipped to a distribution facility where the devices are stored and later shipped to individual stores when needed. The stores do not pay a fee for receiving or dispensing the devices.
The carrying strap containment devices are distributed to customers at the stores free of charge. Specifically, devices are distributed to customers by attaching them to shopping bags in the process of handing the bags to the customers during the checkout process. Each store counts and records the number of devices that are distributed. In turn, each store is paid for distributing the devices an amount based upon the number of devices distributed.
If the carrying strap containment device contains a sales incentive, a customer can redeem it in a variety of manners. For instance, if the sales incentive is a coupon, the customer can return the coupon to a participating store for redemption. The customer does not need to remove the coupon from the device, as is typically required of other coupons, nor is the customer required to alter the shape of the coupon prior to redemption. Instead, the coupon can be redeemed while it is on the carrying strap containment device. Further, if the carrying strap containment device includes a rebate, the customer can redeem it by following the instructions on the carrying strap containment device, which typically requests that the customer mail the rebate to a clearinghouse to receive the rebate. As with a coupon, the rebate does not need to be removed from the carrying strap containment device before it can be redeemed. Instead, the entire carrying strap containment device can be mailed to an address designated on the device.
After a store has redeemed a coupon, the coupon is processed using the existing coupon processing systems currently in place within the United States. Further, these systems do not need to be modified to process coupons located on the carrying strap containment devices. Instead, these systems can process the coupons located on the carrying strap containment devices and do not require that the coupons be removed from the devices for processing. These systems include clearinghouses that handle the transfer of money between stores and manufacturers and others who offer sales incentives.
The effectiveness of this method can be measured by comparing the number of sales incentives redeemed with the number of devices distributed. This comparison can be completed by each store or by the entity distributing the devices to each store.
An advantage of this invention is that it provides in-store advertising and sales incentives on a device that is useful and welcomed by customers. Further, this invention actively engages customers by presenting them with useful devices that include either. advertisements or sales incentives, or both because each advertisement or coupon is placed in the hand of a consumer in such a manner that the consumer can view the advertisement. Thus, this invention results in increased impressions made per advertisement when compared with impressions made using conventional mediums.
Another advantage of this invention is that it solves"" the problem of not being able to generate a positive revenue stream from placing advertisements and sales incentives on a carrying strap containment device. The invention enables an entity to generate revenue by placing advertisements and sales incentives on useful devices.
Yet another advantage of this invention is that it actively engages a customer with in-store advertising after a customer has purchased goods. The device is almost certain to be taken into the home of the customer because the device is attached to the carrying straps of the shopping bag. Indeed, the device is typically literally placed in a customer""s hand. Should a device not make it into a customer""s home because a customer removes the device from a bag before entering the home, the advertisement would have accomplished its goal of making an impression on a customer because the customer would have viewed the advertisement, at least peripherally, while removing the device.
Still another advantage of this invention is the combination of an advertisement vehicle and a sales promotion vehicle with a useful device to significantly increase the likelihood of selling a product. In effect, the useful device serves as a mechanism to covert impressions made by the device into sales in a direct, convenient, and economically efficient manner, which is exactly the outcome that conventional advertising mechanisms have been unable to accomplish.
Another advantage of this invention is that a sales incentive is given to a customer in a form that is immediately redeemable without requiring the customer to first locate and then remove the incentive from another publication, such as a newspaper or flier. Further, the sales incentives can be processed through the existing coupon clearinghouse systems that are used today in the United States without modification.
Yet another advantage of this invention is that the device presents sales incentives to a customer in a convenient form and material, and at a time convenient for the customer to view the sales incentive and to store it in a convenient place, such as his or her car, so that he or she may easily remember to redeem it upon his or her return to the store. Also, sales incentives are provided to the customers using useful devices made of sturdy materials that enable the devices to hold their shape and not tear, wrinkle or be crushed when placed in a woman""s handbag, a gentleman""s pocket or during the redemption process.
Still another advantage of this invention is that the method provides an incentive for each store to distribute the carrying strap containment devices to its customers and does not simply rely on a store""s motivation to distribute the devices. Specifically, each store is paid to distribute the devices based on the number of devices distributed by the store to its customers.
Another advantage of this invention is that stores employing this method realize a significant cost savings associated with supplying bags because this invention encourages customers to use plastic bags rather than more expensive paper bags.
Yet another advantage of this invention is that the method uses carrying strap containment devices that require little, if any, training for store personnel to be able to install the devices on shopping bags. Instead, the process by which these devices are installed is evident to most store personnel without need for explanation. This is extremely advantageous because most stores are unwilling to train their store personnel that bag merchandise who have an annual turnover rate of almost 100 percent.
Still another advantage of this invention is that installing these devices on carrying straps coupled with bags does not require that additional store personnel be hired because the process of installing the devices requires little time and little, if any, training.
Another advantage of this invention is that the device supports the straps of a typical plastic bag so that when installed, the handles of the bag stand upright without other assistance and prevent the contents of the bag from spilling out of the bag. The device acts as a structural cross beam that pulls two straps together and bridges the gap between each side of the bag. As a result, the strap remains upright, and the device remains in a position that is visible to the customer each time the customer grabs for the straps of the bag. Thus, the device, and thereby the advertisements and sales incentives, are highly visible by the customer when installed on a grocery bag.
Another advantage of this invention is that the device enables a retailer to place more items within a plastic bag than possible without use of the device. Thus, a retailer uses fewer plastic bags when employing this method. As a result, the retailer is inclined to distribute the devices to its customers in order to realize the cost savings associated with using fewer plastic bags.
Yet another advantage of this invention is the realization of significant cost savings to advertisers because the carrying strap containment devices are at least ten times cheaper than other methods of advertising and sales promotions currently used.
Still another advantage of this invention is that advertisements and sales incentives included on carrying strap containment devices may be changed without incurring additional charges to the advertisers two or three times during a typical four week advertising cycle, thereby constantly refreshing the advertisements and sales incentives on the devices and enhancing the value of the devices to the customer. In contrast, other forms of in-store and out-of-store advertising are incapable of changing as quickly because such changes would be prohibitively expensive.
Another advantage of the invention is the ability to enhance customer goodwill, brand loyalty, and product differentiation.
Yet another advantage of this invention is that this method provides advertisers of good and services with an economical method of placing their advertisements in front of a massive number of consumers that previously were unavailable to the advertisers, except by using very expensive advertising methods that are much less effective.